Firm not to give dividends

JAKARTA (JP): PT Mulia Industrindo, a ceramics and glass producer listed on the domestic stock exchanges, yesterday announced not to distribute dividends even though it gained an after-tax profit of Rp 11.26 billion (US$5.22 million) last year.

"We will not distribute dividends because the profit was made before the company went public," the company's president, Eka Tjandranegara said in an annual meeting of its shareholders here.

Mulia Industrindo, which produces ceramic tiles, float glass, glass containers and glass blocks, listed 25 million shares or 20 percent of its total enlarged stocks on the Jakarta Stock Exchange in January and on the Surabaya Stock Exchange in February.

Eka explained that last year's profit, which was far higher than the Rp 2.08 billion of 1992, will be used to expand the company's production capacity from 23,000 to 26,000 tons per day.

He said the company's sales surged by 383 percent to Rp 159.12 billion last year from 1992.

Mulia Industrindo is 54 percent owned by PT Eka Gunatama Mandiri, 26 percent by PT Mulia Graha Permai and 20 percent by the public. (yns)